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I am Pastor at Poquonock Community Church, Congregational (CCCC) in Windsor, CT. My wife Jama and I live in Wetherfield, CT.
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This blog is my daily devotional journal. I write it because it is so easy to go for weeks without ever taking the time to be alone with God. Writing helps me develop a discipline I need.

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Sunday, October 2, 2011

Kingdom Economics 101: Production

Matthew 21:33-46Kingdom Economics 101: Production

“Hear another parable. There was a master of
a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in
it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.
When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get
his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and
stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did
the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect
my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is
the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him
and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of
the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He
will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other
tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never
read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone that the builders
rejected

has become the
cornerstone;

this was the Lord's doing,

and it is marvelous in
our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of
God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And
the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on
anyone, it will crush him.”

When the chief priests and the
Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.
And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because
they held him to be a prophet.

Introduction

On January 17, 1925, President Calvin Coolidge was speaking
to The Society of American Newspaper Editors in Washington, D.C. when he made
this observation:

“There does not seem
to be cause for alarm in the dual relationship of the press to the public,
whereby [the press] is on one side a purveyor of information and opinion and on
the other side a purely business enterprise. Rather, it is probable that a
press which maintains an intimate touch with the business currents of the
nation, is likely to be more reliable than it would be if it were a stranger to
these influences. After all, the chief
business of the American people is business. They are profoundly
concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the
world. I am strongly of opinion that the great majority of people will always
find these are moving impulses of our life.”

Coolidge went on to say, “Of
course, the accumulation of wealth cannot be justified as the chief end of
existence,” he said. “But we are compelled to recognize it as a means to
well-nigh every desirable achievement.In every worthy profession, of course, there will always be a minority
who will appeal to the baser instinct. There always have been, probably always
will be, some who will feel that their own temporary interest may be furthered
by betraying the interest of others.”

Really.Calvin
Coolidge may have known about business, but he didn’t know anything about
Kingdom Economics.

Let’s pray, and then listen carefully to Jesus.

The Vineyard Business

Kingdom Economics.Payment
– Profit – Process – Production.

If you’ve been with us over the past few weeks you’ve probably
realized how often Jesus uses vineyards to talk about the Kingdom of God.A vineyard is a business.No matter how we try to romanticize
vineyards, no matter how we love to stand on a hill in Napa, Bordeaux, or
Tuscany and view the well-ordered vines and feel the warm sun beating down to
nourish the grapes; no matter the enjoyment we get from standing in a museum
and contemplating an artist’s rendering of a vineyard or a still life of a
bunch of grapes; no matter the pleasure an evening with good friends can be
sipping a good vintage with just the right cheese, fruit, and crackers, the
fact is that vineyards are businesses.

Because vineyards are businesses, we have to talk about
three aspects of production. We need to
look at the method of production.How
are we going to accomplish the task at hand?We have to look at the master of production.Every vineyard needs a master vintner, or
else it is merely a plot of land with grapes growing on it, and you may as well
sell the grapes to Smuckers or Welches, because without a great vintner, you’ll
never produce a great wine.And we have
to look at the makers of production – the people who actually do the work that
brings the grapes from the field to the vats, from the vats to the casks, from
the casks to the bottles.

The method of
production

The Vineyard Owner that we read a few minutes ago clearly
lays out the method of production the vineyard owner had in mind.There were nine steps in his production
process.(You’ll want to have Matthew 21
open in front of you so you can really soak in this parable.)As Matthew recounts Jesus telling the story,
the nine steps in the production of wine were:

1,Plant a vineyard

2.Build a fence

3.Dig a wine press

4.Build a tower

5.Lease the vineyard to tenant farmers

6.Send servants to collect the product

7.Sell the product

8.Pay tenants their due

9.Bank profits

The vineyard owner’s plan is very simple really.He’s put together a working vineyard from top
to bottom.The grapes are there, all
planted and ready to go.The wine press
is there, so there can be no mistake about what it is we’re going to do with
the grapes.The tower is there so you
can observe the grapes and make sure no animals are pillaging the grapes.When the vineyard owner handed the tenant
farmers the keys to the vineyard, I’m sure the tenant’s first reaction was,
“Wow!What a set-up!There’s hardly anything we have to do!”

In production, the hardest part is always the set up.Henry Ford was remarkable, not because he
built cars.In the first part of the 20th
century, lots of people were building cars.Ford was remarkable because he figured out how to mass-produce
cars.When workers came to Ford’s plant
in Dearborn in the early 1900s, the two things they were overwhelmed by were
the simplicity, even monotony, of the job and the high wages Ford was willing
to pay workers willing to do the
job.There was nothing his workers had
to figure out.It had all been put
there, ready to go when they arrived at work.

The vineyard owner presented the tenant farmers with a
working vineyard.At the end of the process, just as Henry Ford
could have stood at the back door of his assembly line and expected cars to
begin rolling out the door like clock-work, when the vineyard owner came back
from doing business in a foreign country, he fully expected to see vats, filled
with wine.It would not be enough if he
came back and was handed bunches of grapes.The way the story is told, it is clear that the fruit of the vineyard was
wine, ready for market, not simply the grapes, or else there would have been no
need to tell us about the wine press and the tower.

The master of
production

Now we know the method of production and we know the goal of
production.The master was so confident
that his ready-made vineyard would produce good wine, when it came time to
collect the fruit of the vineyard, he doesn’t even go himself.He sends a series of his servants to do the
collection because he is sure his production method is fool-proof and there
will be wine to take to market.

You see, the master of production, the vineyard owner, knew
his craft so well and was such a hard worker himself, he expected the same out
of anyone who came along and said they’d like to operate the vineyard.The master of production had planted the
vineyard himself.The master of
production had built a fence around the vines himself.The master of production had dug the
winepress himself.The master of
production had built the tower himself.The master of production had interviewed the tenants and showed them the
vineyard and told them what the task was they were to do.He had done all the work, in advance,
himself.This was a master vintner.He was not merely a gentleman farmer who sits
on his porch and watches while others do the work.

In the wonderful little 2008 movie Bottle Shock, a young vintner, speaking about the production of
wine says this, “You have to have it in your blood, you have to grow up with
the soil underneath your nails, the smell of the grapes in the air that you
breathe. The cultivation of the vine is an art form. The refinement of the vine
is a religion that requires pain and desire and sacrifice.”

The makers of
production

The vineyard owner in Jesus’ parable had done all that. So why doesn’t he end up with marketable
wine?The problem isn’t with the
production method.The problem isn’t
with the master of production.The
problem is with the workers, with the makers of production.He had planted a vineyard and done everything
necessary so the vineyard would be easy to maintain and ready to produce wine,
but those he entrusted the fruit to were greedy and lazy.When they looked at the vineyard all laid out
for them, they decided they liked the idea of owning the vineyard far better
than the idea of working the vineyard.

Do you remember the children’s story of the Little Red
Hen?This is a story that ought to be
taught in every church.I’m almost sorry
the kids have all gone off to Sunday School, because I think they’d get a kick
out of hearing it.But just in case
you’ve forgotten it or your parents never read it to you when you were little,
here it is:

Once upon a time, there was a little red hen who lived on a
farm . She was friends with a lazy dog , a sleepy cat , and a noisy yellow duck
.

One day the little red henfound some seedson the ground.
The little red henhad an idea. She
would plant the seeds .

The little red henasked her friends, "Who will help me plant the seeds ?"

A much simpler version of this same tale was told to me when
I went to graduate school in Ohio.The
pastor remarked one morning that church was like an Ohio State Football game:
22 men working their guts out on the field while 88,000 others sit in the stands
eating hot dogs and drinking beer while commenting on how they could have done
it better.

What, exactly, were the tenants doing?The answer is,
nothing.They saw the vineyard entirely
as a way of becoming rich so they wouldn’t have to work.They imagined the Vineyard Owner’s life was
merely a life of leisure, and they were willing to do anything, even kill, in
order to protect their position of leisure.

The really odd thing about the tenant farmers is that
because they were unwilling to produce
anything, the inheritance they so badly wanted – owning the vineyard – would do
them no good.It would only take a
single season of not tending the vines for weeds to take over and kill the
vines.The fence would need mending, but
they were unwilling to do that work, and so the fence would soon fall into
disrepair and vermin would get into the vineyard they so highly prized.Soon enough the tower would be of no use
because it too had not been attended to.The wine press itself would become unrecognizable, because rain and time
would ultimately obliterate the pit.In
the end, all these farmers would end up with, even if they killed the vineyard
owner’s own son, was a worthless piece of overgrown land.

Where the Vineyard Is

In Luke 10 Jesus said, “The
harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the
Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

(Luke 10:2 ESV)

The number one thing I keep hearing from church members here
at PCC and that I have heard over and over everywhere I travel and meet other
pastors and see what is going on at other churches is this, “Pastor, it is so
hard to get anyone to volunteer to do
anything around here.”And yet, go to
any church and you will meet tenants who believe they own the place.Church:It is time for a reality check.Here it is.This place doesn’t
belong to you.This place belongs to the master of
production.It is his: lock, stock, and
barrel.

You are tenant farmers, and God will reward you with the
greatest commendation anyone could receive, “Well done, though good and
faithful servant,” if you will tend to the vineyard.The stakes, the netting, the fence, the wine
press, the tower: none of these are the fruit.They are not even good for resale.We make a huge mistake when we begin to imagine the buildings and
grounds are themselves the most important part of the equation.They must be used for what the master of
production designed them for: as tools to use to cultivate the grapes.

Jesus also said, in John 15, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in
him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

(John 15:5 ESV)

Church: the place where Jesus needs laborers the most isn’t
in here.This building is nothing more
than the bunkhouse for the vineyard.If
you believe this is anything more than that, your vision is way too small.That’s why this room in most churches is
most often called The Sanctuary.This is
the place to which laborers must go for rest, for refreshment, and to meet with
the master of production to learn more of his production methods.

Jesus said the laborers are few.We must not turn away anyone who seriously
comes to us and says they want to work in the vineyard.The vineyard is out there!Jesus
said the laborers are few.There is room
out there for the elderly laborer who has an idea – a way to reach lost souls
for Christ.Jesus said the laborers are
few.There is room out there for the
single person who has an idea – a way to reach the lost for Christ.Jesus said the laborers are few.There is room out there for the poor person
who has an idea – a way to reach the lost for Christ..Jesus said the laborers are few.There is room out there for the disabled person who has an idea – a way
to reach the lost for Christ..Jesus said the laborers are few.There is room out there for every sinner
person who has an idea – a way to reach the lost for Christ.

In here is where you can hatch those great ideas, have
conversation with other laborers about how to tend the vineyard.But make no mistake.The vineyard is not located at 1817 Poquonock
Ave., Windsor, CT.For the workers who
will recognize it, the vineyard IS Windsor, CT.

Are you tired of people forever asking you to serve on a
committee or board around here?Go out
into the vineyard and work there.Do you
wish there were more people in here when we gather for Sanctuary?Go out into the vineyard and work there.

Do not lose sight of what Jesus is producing.The fruit of the Kingdom is not simply
grapes, but fine wine.And the vineyard
doesn’t produce anything without laborers who go out into the vineyard.“You have to Jesus in your blood, you have to
grow up working with Jesus, with the soil underneath your nails, the smell of
the messy lives of men and women in the air that you breathe. The cultivation
of the vine is an art form. The refinement of the vine is Jesus, and that
requires pain and desire and sacrifice.”

The difference between the story of the Little Red Hen and
Jesus is that even if you have never seriously gone out into the vineyard to
tend the vines and love the people and introduce them to the master of
production and invite them to enjoy Sanctuary with you and with him, Jesus is
here today, and he’s saying to you, right now, “Who will help me eat my
bread?”